The antidote begins with worship – to give glory back to God.

Repent: Repentance in this case looks like giving back to God what is rightfully his: worship. Glory. Renown.
Believe: Believe that the glory that comes from God is better, richer, and more lasting than the transient glory that comes from man (John 12:43).

Repent: Be humbled as you realize you have attempted to use the ministry and gifts God has given you to pilfer from him the fame and renown that he and he alone deserves.
Believe: Be lifted up as you realize and experience afresh your unalterable identity as son or daughter of the King who died to make rebels and glory thieves his kids.

Worship to repent. Worship to believe.

And I’m not just talking about a “lifestyle” of worship. A true lifestyle of worship begins with the specific practice of worship. For those of us who wrestle for our lives with the idolatrous whore of acclaim, then we need to build into our lives consistent habits or rhythms of worship, both corporate and private.

We need a consistent practice of seeing the greatness and beauty of God with the eyes of our hearts then pouring out praise with extravagance and abandon. This is the only thing that will begin to free us from ultimately worshipping ourselves or seeking glory from others instead of seeking glory for God.

If acclaim is your idol of choice:

• Begin the day with worship. Don’t rest till your study, meditation, or prayer leads to adoration.

• Command your soul to worship. Don’t wait for the music or the feeling. David did this multiple times throughout the Psalms, just look up “O my soul”.

• Practice being more expressive. Shout, clap, dance. You have to retrain your body, mind, and soul. Learn again the language of adoration. This is a fight for your heart’s affection.

• Memorize Psalm 16 (“In your presence there is fullness of joy.”) Psalm 42 (“As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.”) or Psalm 63 (“My soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you.”)

A great place to start, right now, is to sing, pray, and meditate on these words from Be Thou My Vision:

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

“When you’ve had all the experiences – met all the famous people, made some money, toured the world and got all the acclaim – you still think ‘is that it?’” –George Harrison

Most Christian leaders I know got into this whole ministry game because of a passionate love for God and a deep love for people. At some point, however, every pastor, worship leader, speaker, musician and leader faces a crisis.

At some point in our hearts we are tempted to make ministry more about us and less about God. We start to believe our own press (whether good or bad). We start to feed off of and need the attention and respect we get from others. We crave bigger platforms and more influence. We start to give in to the idol of acclaim.

At this point, it becomes almost impossible to distinguish whether the leadership decisions we make are fueled by zeal for God’s glory or for our own. This is dangerous ground for any leader, but especially for those of us whose job it is to constantly point back to the beauty, fame, and glory of Christ.

Signs of acclaim’s influence
What are some signs that you’ve been lead astray by a desire for your own acclaim?

• Jealousy Do you become easily envious of leaders who have more influence, a larger platform, or a bigger following than you?

• Despair When someone’s talent, level of attention, fame or power eclipses your own, does it practically affect your level of joy – even driving you to despair?

• Self Absorption Do you find yourself busily preening your public image, Googling your name, obsessing over how many times your sermons or songs have been downloaded, the number of hits on your site, or the number times you get retweeted?

• Need for Credit Is it hard for you when others get credit for something you deserve? Do you find yourself constantly needing to set the record straight, making sure people know that was your idea, how hard you worked, or that you were in fact the genius behind the big success?

It’s very possible you have already given your heart to the idol of acclaim and you are sin-sick with pride.

Certainly the answer is that you and I need to again repent of our idols and embrace the gospel at a deep level. But how? How can we detach our hearts from the idol of acclaim, before we are destroyed or enslaved by it?

Part 2.

A month ago I read an article on DesiringGod.org called “What does it mean practically to keep the Sabbath holy?” I would suggest reading it. In the article John Piper explains what that possibly looks like for different types of people and what it has looked like for his family over the years. Reading this article I began to examine practically what this looks like for me.

As a young Christian I felt like all days were holy and should be lived for God’s glory in our worship of him.  Hebrews chapter 3-4 explains that “Today” is the day to rest from our works just as God did from his works at creation, and enter that rest which is owned by God. The way in which I have done that is by daily Sabbath. You may know it as quiet time. And as I learned from a great book Practice of the Presence, by Brother Lawrence to somehow carry that rest throughout the day just as Moses’ face continued to show God’s glory after he left God’s presence. To some degree this is at the core of missional living, in that we are submitting our lives, our days, to God’s mission on earth.

I was recently given the “opportunity” to reassess these values. My family had a chance to use a friend’s lake house, which was a two hour drive south of Kansas City, for a week. As we began to drive, the first half hour was filled with constant phone calls, email and text notifications but soon those sounds stopped, and it was clear we had left the service area. I wasn’t worried because that’s normal as you drive through central Missouri. I knew that as we got closer to Bolivar we would pick up a signal and I could check my email and set my fantasy football roster. No problem.  It was true that as we approached the lake my phone found service again but not for long. About three miles from our destination my phone lost its last bar for good.

We got to the house and my first order of business after we unloaded all the gear was to get the TV running. Don’t judge me! I had to check the weather for the kids, IT WAS FOR THE KIDS! I had to check the weather so we could see if we could swim. After trying everything in the world we realized that the TV was old and they didn’t have a digital converter. So we had no TV. I thought to myself, “no problem or at least it’s no problem until Saturday when the Missouri Tigers play or Sunday when the Chiefs play. At least I can listen on the radio”. I checked the radio, but the radio was barely picking up a station. So no phone, emails, texts, twitter, facebook, voicemail, TV, news or scores. I’m completely unplugged.

The next morning my wife, Amy, and I began to talk about the idea of a Sabbath rest, more specifically a certain day of the week to rest. We talked about how that really works when you are serving on Sundays. If you’re a church planter you may be setting up equipment / classrooms, teaching, tearing down and loading out to a trailer. How can you do all that, rest for a few hours in the afternoon and consider that a Sabbath?

During the discussion I was painfully aware of my discomfort with being “unplugged” from the matrix. My wife encouraged me that I do a good job of taking time daily to marinate in prayer, scripture and study. But she also challenged me to find longer periods each week to disconnect and recharge the batteries. I thought about mounting a defense but the discomfort I was feeling weighed too heavily on me to pretend that I did that well. I have all the excuses in the world like a new church plant work load, off-hours pastoral care and meetings, meetings, meetings. I mean, I’m so important – what would happen without me?

“I’m so important – what would happen without me?”

Our family trip made me realize some realities. One of them is although I’m a big proponent of a regular quiet time, I think I may be falling short of really entering that rest from my works.  The discomfort I was feeling only served to reveal my desperate need to lay down who I am and abide in him more. For me that is going to take more than 30 minutes every day. It’s going to take me stopping, disconnecting and getting off the mission I am on and connecting to God’s true Missio Dei, and that’s wrapped up in my restful surrender to His glory.

Although I struggled that week with not knowing the weather, news or current events, I spent some much needed time with family and friends. And I breathed in deeply God’s glory as an amazing creator and savior. The busier I get as a church planter the more I see Sabbath as a joyful necessity rather than a law and I am still trying to understand practically what Sabbath looks like for me.

What does it look like for you?
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Orion is a former charismaniac youth pastor turned church planter, and missional strategist. He lives in Kansas City with His wife Amy, daughter Riley and son Luke. You can follow him on Twitter here.

In some way, singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird gets this better than many pastors do.

This winter, Andrew is doing a small series of special concerts in older church sanctuaries in Chicago & Minneapolis.

From a recent article in Paste Magazine:

Inspired by childhood memories and Dutch term gezelligheid (which loosely translates as “coziness”), Bird plans to prioritize violin over horn instrumentals under a new, more ambient light, as he switches out the churches’ traditional overhead fixtures. “I want the audience to be both lifted and comforted as we head into another cold and dark winter,” he said in a statement. “I feel the space should be sacred so the audience can experience my music in a different atmosphere.”

Warmth, ambiance, sacred space. You might not have a chapel, cathedral or other sacred space to work with – but there are some things you can do to help set aside the time leading up to Christmas in a distinct way:

Think Simple, Think Sacred
You don’t have to go overboard this season. The point is to provide a sacred, reverent atmosphere for people to reflect appropriately on Christmas. Even if your worship is normally loud and long with a large band and joyful, upbeat songs – you can pare that down and weave in simpler, more reflective song choices.

You may be a contemporary church, but this is the season to experiment working in some liturgical elements in a tasteful way. This helps disarm the modern consumer spectacle we’ve made of Christmas by tying the season back to the ancient ways it has been observed.

Classy Not Gaudy
If you’re a traditional church, you’re going to be tempted to litter your stage with poinsettias. If you’re a contemporary church, you’ll most likely go with giant wrapped presents or other props that go along with your current sermon series.

Don’t.

Try something different this year: candles, simple staging, play with themes of light & darkness. Advent is about people waiting in darkness for the light to come. Help people feel that.

Don’t Be Afraid of Sadness
Advent embraces a tension that does not easily resolve. Yes, He is coming… but He’s not here yet. The ancient Hebrews waited 400 years with silence from Heaven. Will Messiah ever truly come? Even now we look around at our world and ask the same: will He come again and set things right as He has promised?

Instead of leaving every service with a happy, clappy message of hope, lean into the tension of Advent and acknowledge that sometimes hope waits a long time with no answer and that there are some wounds that will go unhealed this side of His return.

Honor the Arc
Advent, however, does culminate with Christmas: God comes down. Heaven breaks through. And angels (even if it was just in front of a handful of shepherds) erupt in joy.

You start the season in darkness but end in light. You start with longing and hope unfulfilled, but in the end – God answers! – and in a most surprising way.

Figure out a way to make your theme progress. My childhood church lit one more candle in a circle with each progressing week. Think that… but bigger.

You’ve got four Sundays to play with. Use them well. Tell a story.
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How have you told the story of Advent in a unique way?